The Campsite Forage: Dandelion Wine

Dandelion wine is one of our favourite wines to make and definitely one of the best for the campsite, hedgerow or field forage. Mainly because it tastes so good but also because a good dandelion picking day has to be warm and sunny and it's usually accompanied with a bottle of last years wine and a bunch of friends.

We have our favourite picking spots where we arrive with a picnic, go for a walk and just before returning to the camper van we collect bucket loads of dandelion heads. That part is the best part as the next bit turns your fingers yellow and smells quite bitter, but with the remains of the bottle of wine it never actually seems too bad.

Firstly, before you embark on any type of homebrewing you must be sure you have the right equipment and it's all clean and sterilised. Secondly, you must always make sure you've foraged far away from any kind of pollution or sprays, and with landowner permission. It's also best to pick on warm sunny days as the natural sugars and yeast (and therefore strength of flavour) will be best at this time.

Dandelions seem to have two blooms in the Spring and late summer. The flower is particularly prevalent after a lot of rain, so in the UK we will be seeing many of them over the next week so you better get foraging.

What you will need:

Homebrew kit. If you're not sure about this there's a great book about Booze For Free you can pick up from our store with everything you need to know... and then some!

6 pints (3.4 l) glasses of dandelion flowers slightly pressed down in the glass (the yellow part only as the green adds a very bitter taste)
Finely peeled rind and juice of 1 orange
Finely peeled rind and juice of 1 lemon
8 Pints (4.5 l) of water
3 lbs (1.5 kg) sugar
4 Fl oz (12 ml) strong black tea cooled and strained
0.25 oz (10g) wine yeast

Put the yellow petals, orange peel, lemon peel and water into a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer for 20 minutes. Strain the water into another container and add the sugar. Stir until it dissolves and add the tea, orange and lemon juice. When its cool add the yeast and cover it well. Stir daily for 3-5 days. Siphon into demijohns and seal with an airlock and leave for about 2-3 months. It's ready to drink within 7 months but will taste even better if left much longer.

We cracked open our year old dandelion wine only the other night and it had a taste that resembled whisky as I'd added a few extra raisins in the brewing process, making it very drinkable indeed! It's even possible to make dandelion beer from the roots of young plants in the Spring, just like the popular coffee and tea substitute aptly named 'Dandelion Root'. Remember it is also an edible wild plant so food foragers will be happy to hear they can use young leaves in salad and cook the older leaves similar to spinach, or add them to soups and sauces.

Dandelion can stimulate the metabolism and cleanse the blood. It's a natural diuretic so it is said it can help to treat acne, liver, stomach, gout and rheumatism conditions. Its value lies in its active agents, which can also cause its bitter taste. Namely tannins, vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, organic acids essential oils and much more.

So when you're next at your camping site, take a look around you and see if you can spot enough dandelions to add a bit of zing to your salad, or brew up a couple of demijohns of wine or a flagon of beer. One thing's for sure... if you do you'll never look at another dandelion 'weed' in the same way again.

So what's your favourite campsite forage? Carry on the conversation at http://www.InspiredCamping.com

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Why Make Beer, Wine, or Mead At Home?

Brewing alcoholic beverages at home is a very rewarding experience as it allows the brewer to create and try new and different types of drinks. While the process takes time and patience, it gives the brewer an appreciation for their creation, while also saving money.

Beer, wine, and mead can all be made at home through various methods, allowing a brewer to try out all sorts of ingredient combinations and brewing tactics, leading to an array of unique and personalized drinks. To get a better understanding on why home brewing is a fun and valuable hobby, it's best to discuss the brewing methods for each beverage separately.

Brewing beer at home is a fulfilling experience, and can take as little as two weeks from start to finish. What's great about brewing beer at home is the option to add different types of ingredients to create and enhance a particular taste. While any beer requires water, hops, malt, and yeast, these are only the basics, but even these ingredients may come in all different types, adding a unique flavor to the brew. There are many home brewing kits available for beer, but the process can also be done from scratch, as there are many informative texts and online sources for techniques.

Making wine at home starts with a very different ingredient: grapes. Although wine is not limited to grapes, it is the most widely used ingredient. Upon extracting the juice from the grapes, yeast is added (similar to beer) in order to begin the fermentation process. As the sugars turn to alcohol, and a second fermentation process is started, the overall duration from start to finish can vary greatly. Some wines only need a month or so to be ready to drink, but others (usually much finer wines), can take decades. While this sounds quite lengthy, that's not to say it can't be done at home. Certainly brewing wine may take longer than beer, but that only means the patience of home brewing is that much more rewarding.

Brewing mead shares some parts with both beer and wine brewing. While it requires honey and water for a longer fermentation period, it may also include hops and spices to add flavor, similar to beer. Mead also has a range of different tastes as it can include a spread of ingredients, from different types of honey, to a various assortment of fruits. Creating mead at home is equally as rewarding as beer and wine, and while it also takes patience and time from start to finish, it's a great technique to make a delicious home brewed beverage.

Brewing beer, wine, or mead from home is certainly an experience worth looking into for any connoisseur. Not only can the brewer create a one of a kind beverage with different styles and tastes, but the process will also save money in the long run. Even better, each of these beverages can be made in various quantities, from a few servings, up to several gallons, given the space at hand for utilization.

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The Amazing Benefits of Trying Different Home Brew Recipes

With the cost of living rising rapidly, home brewing is a welcomed idea. People all over the world are embracing this practice with open arms due to the multiple benefits it presents. As a novice or an experienced home brewer, you may be wondering about the benefits of trying new home brew recipes. Well, variety is the spice of life and trying out different home brew recipes spices up your life!

For most home brewers, the need for a challenge propelled taking up the hobby. There is a general view that most home brewers love challenges and adventures. Trying out different recipes dares you to get out of your comfort zone and into a new world of a different kind of beer. The daunting new recipes will test your skills but the results of mastering them are rewarding.

With the seeming conspiracy by each successive government to hike beer taxes, many people are finding themselves slowly forced out of pubs by the higher prices. Home brewing comes in to save you from the soaring costs. Although you make a higher initial investment, it pays off in the long term, as you will be brewing enough beer for all of your friends that come over for a ball game.

Changing your recipe from the one you are accustomed to definitely calls for imagination and creativity. You might even surprise yourself with your product! The whole process, the patience and finally sipping your personally hand crafted brew will confer intrinsic satisfaction that will leave you glowing with pride. It will also offer you bragging rights to your friends and guests. Reading up on different recipes and sharing ideas widens your knowledge base and inspires new ideas.

Another benefit of trying different home brew recipes is that you increase the probability of arriving at a higher quality beer. Trying out other ideas of what works and reviewing your processes will raise your brewing standards. After some time your will master various brewing techniques and take your beers to a higher standard. With different recipes, you can try out processes that are unfeasible for commercial production. As you control the ingredients that go into it, your beer quality has a personal guarantee.

You cannot afford to forget the health benefits that home brewing offers. This is essentially because your home brew does not get all those added chemicals or preservatives. This further translates into reduced hangovers.

As a hobby, brewing using different shared recipes will increase your social appeal. It gives you a hobby that requires little time and space investment. The best part is that home brewing has unlimited benefits and variations that you are challenged to explore and discover exclusively.

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How to Brew Your Own Beer at Home

The idea of beer brewing has been a worldwide event for numerous centuries. Beer is a favorite drink for many people and many have crafted the skill of making their own beer at home. It has become a popular hobby for most people too.With the current interest in beer brewing many have decided it's time to begin brewing their own beer at home.

If you want to brew your own beer, you will need a few pieces of equipment. There are home brew shops that offer beginner kits to get you off to a start. Your home brewing doesn't require a lot of space. With a modest kitchen area and a burner, you can make your beer at home. The Beer brewing process is completed within three weeks from start to finish. After that you can have your beer to drink.The process is easy and requires that you follow a few simple instructions.

You are ready to begin when you gather the ingredients, but you will have to sterilize everything. First begin by combining malted barley and hot water. This will produce a mash after soaking for one hour. For the next step you will have to thoroughly wash all the liquid from the barley and collect it in a big pot. The result is called wort andthis is somewhat sugary and sweet. However, there is a shorter way to achieve this. So instead of creating a mash you can use malt extract instead. You can boil both the liquid and wort mix and then add the hops. The hops essentially characterize the beer. If you boil the hops for an hour, the bitterness is drawn out. If you boil it for 30 minutes you'll have the hop flavor and a little bitterness. However, if you mix in the hops when the boiling is almost completed only the fragrance of the hops will be extracted.

It is absolutely necessary to cool the wort below 70 degrees. You can hasten the cooling process by putting the pot into a bathtub of cold water and stir it constantly. When the wort is chilled, remove and place it in the fermenter, then add the yeast. To prevent contamination, ensure that the enclosed fermenter is air locked. Within twelve hours the fermentation will begin. The yeast while absorbing the sweet sugars in the wort will be releasing CO2 at the same time. It is the yeast that makes it possible to create the beer. Bear in mind however, that while the process of fermentation is faster with ale yeasts and will need only a few days for the process to be completed, lager yeasts on the other hand is a longer process which can take many weeks or months for completion.

Your home brew will need a few days to stabilize after the fermentation process is completed. All standard batches need approximately fifty-five beer bottles to bottle the beer. Sugar is now added to the home brew and the bottles will be filled and capped. Because the yeast is still in the home brew and the bottle is tightly capped, the yeast absorbs the sugar in the bottle while producing carbon dioxide thus carbonating the beer. This approach known as bottle conditioning has been used for many centuries and is still being used by some breweries today. So, it doesn't take much to brew your own beer!